GAME REPORT

Cholet Edge BC Sumykhimprom With Strong Fourth Quarter

Cholet overcame a 25-point night from Abdullahi Kuso to beat BC Sumykhimprom 82-81 and remain undefeated in EuroChallenge Group C.

Kuso hit nine of his 13 shots from the field and made all seven of his free throws on Tuesday evening but the Ukrainian team couldn't capitalize on the excellent effort as both Antywane F. Robinson and Vincent Grier poured in 20 apiece for Cholet.

Sumykhimprom led by as many as 10 points in the third quarter and ended the frame on top 65-58.

Cholet reeled off the first 10 points of the fourth quarter for a 68-65 advantage with 6:25 left in the contest and they stayed in front the rest of the way.

The French team had to hold their nerve in the final minute, though.

Corey Santee of Sumykhimprom passed to Osvaldas Macernis who connected from long range with 21 seconds to go to close the gap to 80-79.

Sumykhimprom then fouled Grier who made the first but missed the second attempt from the line.

Robinson grabbed the offensive rebound, though, and Macernis fouled Grier with seven seconds left. He again split two at the line for an 82-79 advantage.

Brian Greene rebounded the miss and Sumykhimprom rushed the ball up the floor only for Yevgeniy Podorvannyy to miss a three-pointer.

Vadym Matyukevych got the rebound and hit a jumper inside the arc as the home side suffered a one-point defeat to fall to 1-2.

COACH QUOTES

Quotes BC Sumykhimprom vs. Cholet Basket

Rimantas Endrijaitis, Head Coach of BC "Sumykhimprom":

"The team can't be created during one month; it is a long process of working and playing together. My players showed a great game, it's just we need to be a little bit faster in the second half. And also the five fouls of Kuso did its job tonight."

Artem Butskyy, Player of BC "Sumykhimprom":

"Pity that we didn't win tonight, we did our best and I think we deserved this victory as well as Cholet Basket did. This team is young and fast, especially I liked Nando De Colo. And also the realization of the three-point field goals was problematic for us tonight."

Erman Kunter, Head Coach of BC "Cholet Basket":

"In the first half we played not very well, but during the second half we managed to play our game. We showed our aggressive defense and it worked. Our team has young players, who not always are able to accomplish coach's tasks. We are working on it. Both team were equal and had chance to win, but we used that chance."

Vincent Grier, player of BC "Cholet Basket":

"My task for this game was to work with Brian Greene, because we were aware how important this player would be for our opponents. In general Sumykhimprom is an aggressive and athletic team, and guys like Brian, Kuso and Santee are amazing players. We concentrated on our defense."